New Orleans and The Nutcracker

This holiday season was very special for our family because our niece, L, was dancing as Clara in The Nutcracker Ballet in Baton Rouge. L has been dancing for about 9 years and the role of Clara is the pinnacle of a ballerina's career before she enters into the senior company. I think I have that right (Blythe, please correct me if I am wrong), but remember I am the mother of boys so the ballet is new to us! Anyway, we knew that we couldn't miss it, so we took Jack out of school a few days early and headed down to New Orleans to have some one-on-one time with Happy & Honey before going to Baton Rouge.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon to Honey's beautifully decorated (non-childproof) home! My mother-in-law is a wonder when it comes to seasonal decorating; she doesn't miss a holiday...Valentine's, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It truly is a child's dream to see her home; she inspires me to do better with my holiday decorating! In addition to the Christmas decorations, Honey just finished redecorating their den...BEE-UUU-TEEE-FUL!! So needless to say with my two boys, I was a nervous cat just waiting for them to break something. Unfortunately, the deacon's bench will always remember my two hooligan's visit. At one point, I asked them both to please just sit on the floor!

Thursday night, Happy fixed Jack a "true Thanksgiving dinner" because Jack had been so put out that our little family of four had Gumbo on Thanksgiving instead of the traditional turkey. And Hank knows the way to my heart; when we arrived, he pulled out 2 quarts of fresh raw oysters! OHHHHHH, they were so goooooood!!!

Friday, Honey took us to New Orlean's Insectarium. It was a wonderful museum all about bugs! Very fascinating and so much information for both children and adults. Brent and Jack sampled a few of the delicacies from the Insectarium's kitchen, such as Chocolate Chirp cookies (crickets) and cajun-flavored wax worms. We all enjoyed the 3D Bug Awards show with the special effects such as rain, being "stung" by a bee, and smelling a stink bug. But the highlight of the visit was the Butterfly Garden, an open room natural habitat for hundreds of butterflies. We called Jack the "Butterfly Whisperer" because 3 different butterflies landed on him and hung out for awhile!

After the Insectarium, we went down to the Riverwalk to see the boats, ate some charbroiled oysters at Drago's, and bought Brent and the boys some Saints t-shirts. And I tell ya, the Saints haven't won a game since my boys put on those shirts, so we might have to retire them until after the Saints win the Super Bowl.

Lil' Who Dats

Happy and Honey were wonderful babysitters on Friday night while Brent and I treated ourselves to an early Christmas present...dinner at Stella! Divine! We both had the tasting menu and everything was wonderful! If you are looking for a restaurant the next time you are in the Big Easy, we would enthusiastically recommend Stella.

Saturday morning, Jack and Happy had their own special date. They made an early morning run to see how the doughnuts are made at Krispy Kreme. And they returned with Krispy Kreme hats and 2 dozen doughnuts! Speaking my love language!

After a quick stop for po-boys on Saturday afternoon (yes, one of our goals for this trip was to eat all of our favorite New Orleans foods that we have missed), we headed to Baton Rouge for the main attraction, The Nutcracker - A Tale From the Bayou. L was absolutely stunning; she has such grace & poise and a wonderful stage presence. Our niece, A, was a little lamb in the performance, and she was just adorable! Jack was completely enthralled with the performance, laughed at some of the funny moments, and appreciated the beauty of the production. Will...well Will, not so much! It was a constant, constant battle just to keep him quiet, forget about trying to keep the child still. In hindsight, I think Will would have appreciated a babysitter!

Picture taking is not allowed during the performance, of course, so this is the only picture we have of Clara. I don't have one of our little lamb...can anyone share one with me?

The joyfully happy Clara with her proud Daddy

Sunday afternoon was Will's cousins birthday party. Ever since May when we had Jack's cousins birthday party, Will has been asking "when it is my party?" Aunt Blythe agreed that we needed to have a party for that poor little boy. All the cousins came over to play in Aunt Blythe's and Big Neal's backyard (which is really like a park!) and had the best time!

Cousin Z gave Jack some pointers on how to throw a football

Will LOVED driving that little John Deere all around the backyard. All of the cousins play so well together. They were outside playing from 2 pm until 8 pm, stopping only for cake and ice cream, until we finally made them come inside for dinner! It is absolutely wonderful when we go visit because Jack and Will are so busy playing from sun up to sun down that we don't hear a peep out of them.

We did have a little cake and ice cream.

Will was thrilled with his Diego cake


Jack believes that the moment you blow out your candles, you become your new age. So here is Will "officially" turning 3. (It will be the first of three times that he will turn 3 over the course of his birthday season!)


The cake was delicious, just in case you were wondering.

And Will opened his birthday presents! He was so excited about every one of them.

Honey & Happy gave Will the cutest outfit for his birthday, which he wore to Christmas Eve Mass.Doesn't he look handsome?!?!

Once again, Aunt Blythe knows how to throw a party! We had a great time and can't wait for our next trip down!